Genetics

When it comes to breeding, it's very important to understand the genetics and family background of your Sugar Gliders. Before housing any sugar gliders together for breeding, please ensure that they are genetically compatible so as to prevent inbreeding! All of this information can be obtained through our Pedigree Program. When paired together properly, you will produce some of the most amazing colors!

The Pedigree Program (TPG Pedigree Program) is the ultimate Sugar Glider database on genetic information and family lineage. Created by the owner herself, Priscilla Price, you can find the family tree of all registered sugar gliders! 

The fastest way to find out if your 2 gliders are compatible for breeding or not is  by Virtual Mating. Just simply enter the "Father" (male sugar glider) and the "Mother" (female sugar glider) and hit calculate coefficient at the bottom.

The important part that you really want to pay attention to is the "Coefficient of Inbreeding". This section will show a percentage on the right side. The higher the %, the more closely related they are. Anything 5% or below is great! More than that is a risky pair to breed.

Color Guide:

• Classic colored sugar gliders will have gray bodies, a black dorsal stripe, black tipped tails, black ears, black knuckles and a white underbelly. Their coloring is striking and a favorite to many. Also called the "wild type", "standard", or "standard gray", it is the most common color of a sugar glider. Classics appear in various shades of grey, black and white. They have the most common phenotype of sugar gliders (meaning all colors can produce Classic babies). Classics can carry multiple colors in their genetics which makes them an ideal candidate for breeding or as pets!

• White Faced Blonde (WFB) refers to the lack of a black bar that is normally seen under the ears of the standard/classic sugar glider's face. This gives them the “white face” look. The white faced blonde is the second most common coat coloration in the sugar glider world. If you pair a classic colored sugar glider to a white faced blonde, you will get both white faced blondes and classic sugar gliders. This is a color trait that can also be seen in other colored gliders, such as a Cremeino with a white face, a Platinum with a white face, Mosaic with white face, etc. They all lack the dark bar marking underneath the ears. WFB can also carry different color types in their genetics which makes them an ideal candidate for breeding or as pets.

• Black Beauties (BB) have dark gray bodies with extremely dark charcoal markings. They usually have very dark knuckles and some will have a dark belly as opposed to the white belly. BB genes are neither dominant nor recessive. However, when pairing BBs together, you will get more Black Beauty offspring than Classics.

• Black Faced Black Beauties, (BFBB) have an overall "black face". They have darker head stripes which typically fade into their eye rings and creates the appearance that they are lacking some of all of the eye rings. Only the noseband will be visible. The lack of distinct eye rings is what gives the "black faced" look. The whole face may appear darker or the area around the eyes will be very light in contrast to a very dark face. In order to display the BFBB phenotypically (the color that they physically appear), a glider needs only one allele from one parent. Considering that, breeding for BFBB babies can be done by matching a BB with a BFBB. If you breed BFBB X BFBB you can result in a melanistic glider. Many melanistic babies die before weaning (approx. 8 weeks old). The cause is unknown. Because of infant mortality and an unhealthy look, it is unwise to breed BFBB to BFBB. An ideal paring would be to breeding BB (non BFBB line) to a BFBB glider.

• Albinos are gliders that lack pigmentation. They have a an overall white body, with very faint or no markings, and have red eyes. This is a very rare color in Sugar Gliders and the genotype is recessive in nature, thus an albino sugar glider must possess two albino alleles to be phenotypically shown. The best way to do this would be to pair together 2 non-albino sugar gliders who each carry an albino gene. 

• Cremeino sugar gliders have a cream colored body or reddish crème colored fur. They have a brown to red dorsal stripe/markings, and deep ruby eyes. Cremeinos were bred selectively; this color does not appear in the wild and it is a recessive gene. To show phenotypically, a glider must have two cremeino alleles. Having Cremeino in a parent's background will increase the odds of producing a red or strawberry glider.

• Red/Strawberry sugar gliders have reddish (strawberry) toned fur. This is a trait and is very uncommon. Red sugar gliders can also have garnet eyes (super rare). This mutation in sugar gliders has not been studied as extensively as other colors but does seem to be a recessive trait in which two alleles must be present to show phenotypically on the animal. Red can sometimes be the result of a sugar glider being heterozygous for cremeino, het for albino, or a combination of genes.

• Leucistic sugar gliders have an all white body with black eyes. They also have very clear or translucent ears, white hands & white feet. This color is either completely displayed, or not present. In other words, two alleles must be present for this recessive gene to be phenotypically (physically) displayed. Leucistics cannot carry the Platinum gene. A very common paring is Leucistic x Platinum.

• Platinum sugar gliders have a light silver (powdered) body with a light dorsal stripe and markings. A joey must have at least one platinum allele to display the platinum gene phenotypically. Platinums can carry the Leucistic gene, but Leucistics do not carry the Platinum gene.

• True Platinum Mosaic (TPM) are a combination of Platinums and Mosaics. TPMs will typically have a platinum color, and a unique feature to make them mosaic. You can think of a typical Mosaic sugar glider (different unique markings), but his underlying coloration is Platinum instead of Standard. Common variations of TPMs would be white tails, ringtails, or white collars on the back of the neck.

• Cremeino Mosaics are a combination of Cremeino and Mosaic gliders. Cremeino mosaics will have a cremeino body color, red eyes, and a unique feature which makes them mosaic. A common variations would be a standard brown spot on top of the head, with an otherwise cremeino body. 

• Mocistic sugar gliders are Mosaic & Leucistics combined. They have all white bodies, white hands and white feet. The difference can be seen in their ears being dark tipped as opposed to the Leucistic who have white/clear ears. It may be hard to tell a mocistic glider by appearance alone. Knowing the genes in your gliders will be the way to know for sure. 

• Ruby Leucistic is a Leucistic and a Cremeino sugar glider combined. They have an all white body with red eyes, similar in appearance to an Albino but without the albino genetics. This is produced by both parents carrying the leucistic and cremeino genes (or the parents can be one of those colors and being het for the other color also). A Ruby Leucistic gets its coat color from two Leucistic alleles (one from each parent), and its eye color from two Cremeino alleles (one from each parent). These are very rare sugar gliders and have been bred recessive to recessive in order to produce this trait.

• Ruby Platinum is a Platinum and a Cremeino sugar glider combined. They have an all white body with red eyes, similar in appearance to an Albino but without the albino genetics. This color is produced by one parent carrying the platinum gene and the cremeino gene, and the other parent carrying the leucistic and cremeino gene. Or the parents may be one of the colors and het for the other color. These are very rare sugar gliders and have been bred recessive to recessive in order to produce this trait.

• Mosaic sugar gliders come in endless patterns! They show different amounts of white pigmentation on their bodies. The patterns and color are random, and that makes them even more unique! Mosaicism involves the presence of two or more populations of cells with different genotypes in one individual, who has developed from a single fertilized egg. In sugar gliders, mosaicism is either present or is not present. It is co-dominant and can never be recessive or heterozygous. You must have at least one mosaic producing in order to have mosaic joeys.

• Piebalds are a type of mosaic sugar glider. They have an unusual patch (or patches) of fur on their body. These patches are usually expressed as classic coloration on a mosaic sugar glider. These are in direct contrast to the mosaic coloring of the sugar glider, and are can be large or very small. Piebaldism in Sugar Gliders is quite rare. Most Piebald’s have smaller spots or less distinctive markings.

• Caramels are a subspecies of sugar gliders. They have a light caramel colored coat with light gray markings and slightly larger ears to give an overall slightly larger appearance. Some have white hands and white wrists, and their tails are usually fluffy and generally held in a curled position (although they can straighten them as well). Imported from Indonesia in 2009, you can only breed Caramels with other Caramels. Cross breeding caramels gliders with any other species of sugar glider will result in sterility.